On November 5, 2026, McMaster University announced that Randy Jackson, associate professor in its departments of Social Work and of Health, Aging and Society, will lead a national six-year project funded by a $24 million (Canadian) grant from the federal New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF). The project is called Surviving and Thriving into the Future on Our Own Terms: A Transformative Framework for Indigenous STBBI Research and Care. It aims to put First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in charge of research and care for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs), including HIV and hepatitis C. McMaster notes that rates of these infections in Indigenous communities across Canada remain disproportionately high.

Why It Matters

**This is large funding for a community-led model, while the US moves the other way.** Canada's Chief Public Health Officer reported last month that infectious syphilis has roughly quadrupled in a decade ([our coverage](/stories/canada-cpho-sti-syphilis-report)), and McMaster says STBBI rates in Indigenous communities remain disproportionately high. Ottawa is funding a six-year program that gives those communities control over STI research design and care delivery. In the US, the CDC has let around 100 community HIV-prevention grants lapse and sent the money to state health departments ([our coverage](/stories/cdc-hiv-prevention-cbo-grants-states)). The two countries are now testing opposite answers to the same question: who should control sexual-health prevention spending. **There are lessons for at-home testing and telehealth companies.** The sexual-health tech boom, including mail-in STI kits, PrEP telehealth and app-based results, has mostly been built for urban, insured and digitally connected users. A national network of community-governed sites that design their own interventions will produce evidence about what works for remote and rural Indigenous populations, and about who owns the resulting data. Companies hoping to partner with these communities should expect governance standards, not just procurement.

The model. The project will set up Indigenous "Cultural Nests" in 12 diverse Indigenous communities. These are community-led spaces where local partners design, run and evaluate sexual-health approaches based on their own cultures, priorities and knowledge systems. Together the nests will form a network intended to shape national strategies for researching and treating STBBIs. "For Indigenous peoples, improving sexual health requires restoring authority over the decisions that shape our lives, including research and care," Jackson said. "Everyone deserves health, love, belonging, and a future they can look forward to."

The size of the award. The grant comes from NFRF's Transformation stream. In October, Ottawa said that stream's 2026 competition was giving $120 million to five research teams, with each grant capped at $24 million over six years. Jackson's project received the maximum award in the program, which is meant for large, interdisciplinary, high-risk projects.

Sources

Update — 2026-11-06

Initial entry — story first created.